Method for nonintrusive identification and ordering of component parts

ABSTRACT

A noninstrusive system and method of scanning an object having component parts includes a vendor based data repository of component parts and a matching processor to receive a scanned image representative of the assembled object and to provide suggested and/or matched component parts for purchase from the vendor.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/777,793 entitled “Methods and Systems for the NonintrusiveIdentification and Ordering of Component Parts,” filed Feb. 26, 2013,and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present description relates generally to procurement of replacementand/or maintenance parts, and more particularly to methods and systemsfor the nonintrusive identification and ordering of component parts.

BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART

Today's machines and devices are oftentimes more complex, morecluttered, and more difficult to effect repairs than previous devices.For instance, in one example, today's manufacturing processes takeadvantage of modularized and component based manufacturing techniques,making the process of diagnosing and effecting repairs difficult. As isoften the case, when a user wishes to diagnose a potential problem, oreffect a repair, the user must deconstruct the device, embarking on anintricate, time consuming, and in some instances, destructive venture.

Still further, once a device is taken apart, the user must be able toidentify the component part of concern and then manually utilize a partslist, repair manual, etc., to correctly identify and order the part forreplacement. This process can be time consuming and fraught with errorsas the manual identification of the part and/or the ordering of theproper repair part can lead to human mistakes.

While the present manual methods may be sufficient for most purposes,there is an identifiable need for various methods and systems forproviding an automated, nonintrusive identification and ordering ofparts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present disclosure, reference may behad to various examples shown in the attached drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form components of an example,computer network environment suitable for implementing the examplenonintrusive identification methods and systems disclosed.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example system level diagram for implementing theexample nonintrusive identification methods and systems disclosed.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example flow chart illustrating processes that maybe performed during implementation of the example nonintrusive methodsand systems disclosed.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example scanned object produced by the examplenonintrusive methods and systems disclosed.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user interface that provides informationregarding an example matched object.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example user interface that provides furtherinformation regarding the example matched object.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example user interface that provides detailinformation regarding an example subcomponent of the example matchedobject.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description of example methods and apparatus is notintended to limit the scope of the description to the precise form orforms detailed herein. Instead the following description is intended tobe illustrative so that others may follow its teachings.

X-ray, γ-ray, radar, sonar, Infrared thermography (IRT), thermalimaging, thermal video, Thermographic cameras (e.g., thermographicimaging device), and other scanning technologies such as, for instance,microwave, Wi-Vi, ultrasound, etc., have continued to evolve allowingadvancements in nonintrusive identification methods. For instance, inone example, U.S. Pat. No. 8,363,781, hereby incorporated by referencein its entirety, describes a nondestructive identification device thatincludes a radiation source and an image processing device to scan andrecognize a material of a sample without opening and/or destroying theobject to be inspected. Other scanning technologies may allow foradditional scanning details, including scanning of simple or complicatedmechanical objects having component parts forming the object.

The present disclosure leverages the latest scanning technologies, suchas the technologies described above, to develop high definition partrecognition systems and methods such as three-dimensional imagerecognition and three-dimensional projection imaging. Specifically, thepresent disclosure provides for systems and methods to allow a user theability to conveniently scan an object, and to provide a component imagewith a detailed look at the scanned object with manually and/orautomatically identifiable and matching components (e.g. parts) of theobject being illustrated. The scanned object and the identified partsmay then be cross-referenced against a parts database forrecommendations and/or automated part ordering. Once confirmed againstthe database, a dynamic parts list may be displayed to the user to allowthe user to select the individual part(s) of interest. In some examples,the scanning process is utilized to automatically detect “broken”components of the finished object by alerting the user via variousalerts (e.g., highlighting, pop-ups, text messages, etc.). Theidentification (either manual or automatically) allows access to avariety of procurement sources for ordering replacement parts,replacement objects, technician services, repair instructions, repairvideos, obtaining expert advice, click-to-chat, live support, and/or thelike. In other words, the described system allows a user to identify andorder the components of the object in question without having to takeapart and/or otherwise destruct the original object.

With reference to the figures, and more particularly, with reference toFIG. 1, the following discloses an example system 10 as well as otherexample systems and methods for providing nonintrusive identificationand ordering of parts on a networked and/or stand alone computer, suchas a personal computer or mobile device. To this end, a processingdevice 20″, illustrated in the exemplary form of a mobile communicationdevice, a processing device 20′, illustrated in the exemplary form of acomputer system, and a processing device 20 illustrated in schematicform, are provided with executable instructions to, for example, providea means for a customer, e.g., a user, client, corporate shopper, buyer,consumer, service technician, etc., to access a host system server 68and, among other things, be connected to a hosted vendor purchasingsystem, e.g., a website, mobile application, etc. Generally, thecomputer executable instructions reside in program modules which mayinclude routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc.that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract datatypes. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciatethat the processing devices 20, 20′, 20″ illustrated in FIG. 1 may beembodied in any device having the ability to execute instructions suchas, by way of example, a personal computer, a mainframe computer, apersonal-digital assistant (“PDA”), a cellular telephone, a mobiledevice, a tablet, an ereader, or the like. Furthermore, while describedand illustrated in the context of a single processing device 20, 20′,20″ those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that thevarious tasks described hereinafter may be practiced in a distributedenvironment having multiple processing devices linked via a local orwide-area network whereby the executable instructions may be associatedwith and/or executed by one or more of multiple processing devices.

For performing the various tasks in accordance with the executableinstructions, the example processing device 20 includes a processingunit 22 and a system memory 24 which may be linked via a bus 26. Withoutlimitation, the bus 26 may be a memory bus, a peripheral bus, and/or alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. As needed for anyparticular purpose, the system memory 24 may include read only memory(ROM) 28 and/or random access memory (RAM) 30. Additional memory devicesmay also be made accessible to the processing device 20 by means of, forexample, a hard disk drive interface 32, a magnetic disk drive interface34, and/or an optical disk drive interface 36. As will be understood,these devices, which would be linked to the system bus 26, respectivelyallow for reading from and writing to a hard disk 38, reading from orwriting to a removable magnetic disk 40, and for reading from or writingto a removable optical disk 42, such as a CD/DVD ROM or other opticalmedia. The drive interfaces and their associated computer-readable mediaallow for the nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules, and other data for the processingdevice 20. Those of ordinary skill in the art will further appreciatethat other types of non-transitory computer-readable media that canstore data and/or instructions may be used for this same purpose.Examples of such media devices include, but are not limited to, magneticcassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges,random access memories, nano-drives, memory sticks, cloud based storagedevices, and other read/write and/or read-only memories.

A number of program modules may be stored in one or more of thememory/media devices. For example, a basic input/output system (BIOS)44, containing the basic routines that help to transfer informationbetween elements within the processing device 20, such as duringstart-up, may be stored in ROM 28. Similarly, the RAM 30, hard drive 38,and/or peripheral memory devices may be used to store computerexecutable instructions comprising an operating system 46, one or moreapplications programs 48 (such as a Web browser, mobile application,etc.), other program modules 50, and/or program data 52. Still further,computer-executable instructions may be downloaded to one or more of thecomputing devices as needed, for example via a network connection.

To allow a user to enter commands and information into the processingdevice 20, input devices such as a keyboard 54 and/or a pointing device56 are provided. While not illustrated, other input devices may includea microphone, a joystick, a game pad, a scanner, a camera, touchpad,touch screen, motion sensor, etc. These and other input devices wouldtypically be connected to the processing unit 22 by means of aninterface 58 which, in turn, would be coupled to the bus 26. Inputdevices may be connected to the processor 22 using interfaces such as,for example, a parallel port, game port, firewire, a universal serialbus (USB), etc. To view information from the processing device 20, amonitor 60 or other type of display device may also be connected to thebus 26 via an interface, such as a video adapter 62. In addition to themonitor 60, the processing device 20 may also include other peripheraloutput devices, such as, for example, speakers 53, cameras, printers, orother suitable device.

As noted, the processing device 20 may also utilize logical connectionsto one or more remote processing devices, such as the host system server68 having associated data repository 68A. The example data repository68A may include any suitable vendor data including, for example,customer/company information, electronic catalog pages, vendor, partslistings, service manuals, etc. In this example, the data repository 68Aincludes a listing of a plurality of products that are available forpurchase. Each of the products may be separately available for purchase,and may be associated with a larger product assembly. For instance, thepart may be a sub-assembly (e.g., an Output Shaft Seal; Part No.902-122-0411) of one or more associated larger part(s), (e.g., aGearmotor assembly; Part No. 017-650-9060, etc.).

In this regard, while the host system server 68 has been illustrated inthe exemplary form of a computer, it will be appreciated that the hostsystem server 68 may, like processing device 20, be any type of devicehaving processing capabilities. Again, it will be appreciated that thehost system server 68 need not be implemented as a single device but maybe implemented in a manner such that the tasks performed by the hostsystem server 68 are distributed amongst a plurality of processingdevices/databases located at different geographical locations and linkedthrough a communication network. Additionally, the host system server 68may have logical connections to other third party systems via a network12, such as, for example, the Internet, LAN, MAN, WAN, cellular network,cloud network, enterprise network, virtual private network, wired and/orwireless network, or other suitable network, and via such connections,will be associated with data repositories that are associated with suchother third party systems. Such third party systems may include, withoutlimitation, systems of banking, credit, or other financial institutions,systems of third party providers of goods and/or services, systems ofshipping/delivery companies, etc.

For performing tasks as needed, the host system server 68 may includemany or all of the elements described above relative to the processingdevice 20. In addition, the host system server 68 would generallyinclude executable instructions for, among other things, initiating anondestructive/nonintrusive identification process, receiving partidentifications, facilitating the ordering of a vendor product, and,providing access to merchandise purchasing, etc.

Communications between the processing device 20 and the host systemserver 68 may be exchanged via a further processing device, such as anetwork router (not shown), that is responsible for network routing.Communications with the network router may be performed via a networkinterface component 73. Thus, within such a networked environment, e.g.,the Internet, World Wide Web, LAN, cloud, or other like type of wired orwireless network, it will be appreciated that program modules depictedrelative to the processing device 20, or portions thereof, may be storedin the non-transitory memory storage device(s) of the host system server68.

Turning now to FIG. 2, there is illustrated an example system 200 forfacilitating the nonintrusive identification and ordering of componentparts. The example system 200 includes a nonintrusive identificationdevice 210 adapted to scan and identify components of a target object212 supported on, for example, a support surface 214. The identificationdevice 210 is communicatively coupled to a purposed processing devicesuch as the processing device 20. In this example, the identificationdevice 210 may be a nondestructive identification device such as thedevice described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,363,781, incorporated herein byreference, a thermal imaging camera, such as the device described inU.S. Pat. No. 8,476,590, incorporated herein by reference, and/or anyother suitable nondestructive imaging device. Furthermore, theidentification device may be a standalone device and/or system such asillustrated in FIG. 2, or may be at least partially integrated into thedevice 20 (e.g., utilizing a camera input device) as desired.Specifically, the device 20 may be provided with some or all of thefunctional components of the device 210 as desired.

FIG. 3 describes an example method 300 of providing a nonintrusiveidentification of component parts and to provide an ability to order thesame. In particular, the example method 300 begins at a block 302 wherethe target object 212 is scanned by the identification device 210 toform a scanned version of the object 302 a. It will be understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art that the identification device 210 may besufficiently large so as to require that the target object 212 bebrought to the identification device 210 (e.g., the device 210 isstationary), or alternatively, the identification device 210 may beportable, allowing the device 210 to travel to the target object 212.For instance, in at least one example, a mobile identification device210 may be provided such as a FLIR thermal imaging camera marketed byFLIR Systems, Inc.

In the present example, in scanning the target object 212, the process302 will first determine if the identification device 210 is capable ofscanning the entire target object 212 in a single scan, or whether thescan requires multiple positions and/or scans due to size, shape,complexity, etc. Once determined the identification device 210 may takeas many scan passes as may be required to provide a full captured imageof the components comprising the object 212. It will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art that the detail and degree of accuracyof the scan in the process 302 may vary based upon any number offactors, including size of the object 212, complexity of the object 212,degree of likelihood of a part match, etc. The object 212 may be furtherscanned with multiple viewpoints, including for example, a multi-anglescan (e.g, 90°, 180°, 360°, etc.), which can provide a more detailedmatch and provide additional information that may not be readilyapparent through a more narrowed scan. It will be further appreciatedthat the scanning process 302 may provide a variety of other scanningparameters and including, for instance, temperature scans, materialdifferentiation, and/or microscopic imperfections (i.e., breaks,deformities, cracks, or the like).

Still further, instead of, or in addition to the scanning of the fullobject 212 as described above, it will be appreciated that the scanningprocess may scan a portion of the object 212 including specificidentifying characteristics and/or codes, such as, for example, partnumbers, bar codes, model numbers, etc. For example, in some instances,the shape, mark, codes, and/or other identifying characteristics of thepart scanned may be unique so as to enable identification of the targetobject 212 without necessitating a complete object scan.

Once the target object 212 is at least partially scanned, processcontrol moves to a block 304, wherein the scanned version of the object302 a is rendered on a display device, such as the monitor 60 or anyother suitable rendering device. As example display of the scannedversion of the object 302 a is illustrated in FIG. 4, along with anassembly view 400 of the part as stored in the data repository 68A.Furthermore, the rendering may, in some circumstances, not be displayedat all, but rather stored in memory, storage, etc., for later recall asdesired. In the present example, the object 212 is initially rendered asa high definition outline (e.g., radar, sonar, x-ray, thermographic,etc.) image of the object 212. The example rendering may be twodimensional or three dimensional as desired. Additionally, the renderedimage may be displayed utilizing any number of different algorithms tohighlight and/or identify areas of interest including breaks, componentoutlines, etc.

After rendering, the scanned version of the object 302 a is processedthrough a recognition algorithm at a block 306. It will be appreciatedthat the recognition process 306 may be a manual process (e.g. a usermust match the rendered component to a parts listing, may be anautomated process (e.g., an algorithm matches the component), or may bea combination thereof. In this example, the image recognition algorithmfirst identifies at least one component of the object 302 a to bematched and automatically matches at least one of the characteristics ofthe identified component with one or more of the vendor componentsstored in any of the vendor databases such as, for instance, informationstored in the data repository 68A. In addition, the image recognitionprocess may alternatively identify and recognize a portion of thescanned object 212 such as a bar code scan from the object/product, auser-input model number, a brand name, a description, a shape, or anyother suitable identification mark. Furthermore, recognition of theobject 212 may be performed through traditional image recognitiontechniques as desired.

After the recognition algorithm proceeds, the method 300 determineswhether there is a single matching object, based upon a predeterminedconfidence criteria at a block 310. For instance, the recognitionalgorithm may assign a relevancy score (e.g., 100%, 75%, 45%, etc.) tothe matched comparisons based upon known matching algorithms. In thisinstance, a configuration setting can allow all relevancy ratings at orabove a predetermined confidence rating (e.g., 100%) to be directlydisplayed to the user at, for example, block 312.

An example user interface 500 displaying relevant information regardingthe components associated with a match of the object 302 a with thecomponents in the data repository 69A is displayed in FIG. 5. In theillustrated example, the list 500 includes a manufacturer 502 and modelnumber 504 of the matched object as well as a description 506 and alisting 508 of the individual component parts associated with thematched object. Of course, it will be appreciated that the informationdisplayed and available to the user will vary as desired and asnecessary to effect identification of the subject component. Stillfurther, the displayed data may include one of more links to additionalinformation regarding the matched object, displayable through pop-ups,new windows, etc. For instance, as illustrated, the interface 500includes a link 510 to display a part assembly diagram, such as forexample, a parts diagram 600 illustrated in FIG. 6.

If the process 310, however, determines that there may be multiplepossible matches, or alternatively if no match rises to a minimumthreshold level to qualify as a match, the method 300 may provide a listof possible matches at a block 314. The listing may include any suitableinformation to facilitate the identification of the matching object suchas a picture, description, etc. as desired. Once the user selects thepossible match, process will proceed to block 312 to display theselected part to the user as previously described.

Even with the confidence of the automated matching algorithm, and/or themanual selection of the likely matched object, mistakes may occur andthe user may be presented with a possible need to select a differentobject. The method 300 provides this availability at a block 316. In theinstance where a different object is desired, the interface 500 mayinclude a link 512, which allows the user to change the selected object.If, however, the displayed product is the correct desired product, theindividual part needed (which may, in some example, be highlighted orotherwise identified) may be selected and ordered such as though anysuitable ordering process 320.

In addition to or alternative to selecting and ordering the matched partfrom an ordering process, the desired part may be self-manufacturedthrough a fabrication or additive manufacturing process such as athree-dimension (3D) printing process. It will be appreciated by one ofordinary skill in the art that the term 3D printing process, 3D printer,etc. in this context may be broadly construed to mean any additivemanufacturing process or additive manufacturing device, including, forexample, fused deposition modeling (FDM), direct metal laser sintering(DMLS), etc. In at least one example, the desired part may be renderedas a computer-readable manufacturing file, such as a CAD file, and sentto a remote and/or local 3D printer for rendering of the desired part.In this manner, the user can confirm the part is the correct part, canutilize the part as a permanent and/or temporary replacement part,and/or may utilize the printed part in any other suitable manner asdesired.

One example interface 700 for displaying part information and forproviding ordering information is illustrated in FIG. 7. By drillingdown into a specified component(s) of the finished good, the user willhave the ability to capture additional information of that part, such asfor example, part details, part images, manufacturing information,how-to videos, product reviews, available ecommerce sources to procurefrom, and in some cases order history dependent on the procurementsystem integration to the user's purchasing history, etc.

It will be appreciated that in other embodiments, the user may bepresented with the capability of a full 360 degree rotation of thescanned object 302 a on the device's display screen. In this example,the rendered high definition three-dimensional image may provide foradditional matching opportunities against the same online corpus ofonline databases stored in the data repository 68A to displaydynamically linkable parts information of each of the components of thefinished goods. The rendering of the image may also allow the user toalso manipulate the image by moving its various components apart fromone another, similar to a computer aided design application, as if itwas virtually being disassembled. As noted, if additional information ona single component is required, the user can simply highlight thecomponent through various “touch” methods and additional informationwill be displayed of that component, such as depicted in FIG. 7.

In still other examples, such as the case of an overheating part(temperature sensor), broken part, worn part, etc., the user will havethe ability to research additional information regarding the partincluding reviews, longevity predictions, operating parameters, etc.,because the recognition algorithm will be associated with and haveaccess to the full data repository 68A. For instance, in the event arecall was identified for that part, the latest information from avariety of sources can be displayed to the user; whether it is directlyfrom the manufacture, distributor/retailer, from social communityreviews, or other suitable source.

As yet another feature of the present disclosure, the systems and methoddescribed herein may be leveraged by the user and/or an organization forits preventative maintenance capabilities. In particular, in thisapplication, the various objects may be saved into a specified databasethat would along with the corpus of online data repositories integrateuser specific information like repair schedules, lifespan of finishedgood, lifespan of a component of the finished good (in the case ofreplacement parts), etc.

Although certain example methods and apparatus have been describedherein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. Onthe contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus, and articles ofmanufacture fairly falling within the scope of the appended claimseither literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.

I claim:
 1. A method for providing nonintrusive identification andordering of component parts, within an electronic vendor system, theinstructions comprising: storing, in a data repository, a listing of aplurality of component parts that are available for purchase, whereineach of the plurality of component parts is directly associated with anassembled object and wherein each of the plurality of component partsincludes at least one identifying characteristic; capturing, with anonintrusive scanning device, an image representative of an internalportion of the assembled object which includes at least a portion ofeach of a plurality of component parts that are not visible withoutopening or destroying the assembled object; matching, by an imagerecognition system, a surface outline of the at least a portion of eachof the plurality of component parts included in the image of theinternal portion of the assembled object as captured by the nonintrusivescanning device against the identifiable characteristics of at least oneof the plurality of component parts stored in the data repository toidentify one or more of the plurality of component parts as beingabnormal; and automatically creating, based on the matching, an orderpage configured for electronic purchase of a matched component part.wherein the nonintrusive scanning device is at least one of an x-ray orgamma-ray device and the one or more of the plurality of component partsidentified as being abnormal includes a detected microscopicimperfection.
 2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the imagerepresentative of the assembled object is a three-dimensional image. 3.The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the three-dimensional image ismanipulatable to provide additional views of the image.
 4. The method asrecited in claim 1, further comprising causing a user interface todisplay a user interface element to allow the user to browse theplurality of component parts stored in the data repository.